There have been many suggestions for repairing the Social Security shortfall. A report offered today by the National Academy of Social Insurance presented some new-to-me ideas: Raise FICA rate by one-twentieth of 1 percent per year over 20 years, up to 7.2 percent in 2035 — 63 percent fix. Dedicate to Social Security a revamped estate tax

Legislation passed at the end of 2010 raised the amount an individual can exempt from federal estate tax to $5 million, but there’s also another provision in the law that helps married couples. Referred to as estate tax portability, the new law means that widows and widowers can now add the deceased spouse’s exemption to

President Barack Obama announced his 2012 budget proposal Monday, throwing a few bones to people living in retirement and attempting to wrest a few away. Here’s how the 2012 budget proposal would most directly affect your retirement planning: Money in retirees’ pockets. The biggest offering is a $250 “economic recovery” payment that would cost $15 billion

We are smack-dab in the middle of the federal tax filing season. That means most of us have been focusing on what the Internal Revenue Service wants from us by April 18. But for those of you living in one of the 43 states (and the District of Columbia) that collect some form of income

The $858 billion tax package that sailed through Congress this week has left both Republicans and Democrats unhappy with parts of the deal, but the wealthy and their heirs can breathe a sigh of relief – at least for another two years. To get the deal done, Democrats conceded on their effort to raise taxes on the wealthy,

As the deal President Barack Obama reached with Republicans to extend the expiring income tax cuts moves toward final approval, House Democrats are plotting their last stand against the bill. That final fight looks to be about the inevitable meeting of death and taxes. On Monday, the Senate cleared a procedural hurdle, voting to vote

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